Tuesday of Holy Week
Give away all your "extras." You know, all those extra shirts that you have, the pairs of shoes you don't wear, and the dozens of CDs that you have. You only use Spotify and Pandora anyway, right? Someone else has none of those luxuries. You have more than you can use or wear in a week, and you have extra, for sure.
Saint of the Day
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz
(d. 1801)
Born
in Cadiz, Spain, and christened Joseph Francis, the youth spent much of
his free time around the Capuchin friars and their church. But his
desire to enter the Franciscan Order was delayed because of the
difficulty he had with his studies. Finally he was admitted to the
novitiate of the Capuchins in Seville as Brother Didacus. He later was
ordained a priest and sent out to preach.
His gift of preaching was soon evident. He journeyed tirelessly
through the territory of Andalusia of Spain, speaking in small towns and
crowded cities. His words were able to touch the minds and hearts of
young and old, rich and poor, students and professors. His work in the
confessional completed the conversions his words began.
This unlearned man was called "the apostle of the Holy Trinity" because of his devotion to the Trinity and the ease with which he preached about this sublime mystery. One day a child gave away his secret, crying out: "Mother, mother, see the dove resting on the shoulder of Father Didacus! I could preach like that too if a dove told me all that I should say."
Didacus was that close to God, spending nights in prayer and preparing for his sermons by severe penances. His reply to those who criticized him: "My sins and the sins of the people compel me to do it. Those who have been charged with the conversions of sinners must remember that the Lord has imposed on them the sins of all their clients."
It is said that sometimes when he preached on the love of God he would be elevated above the pulpit. Crowds in village and town squares were entranced by his words and would attempt to tear off pieces of his habit as he passed by.
He died in 1801 at age 58, a holy and revered man. He was beatified in 1894.
Saint of the Day
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz
(d. 1801)
This unlearned man was called "the apostle of the Holy Trinity" because of his devotion to the Trinity and the ease with which he preached about this sublime mystery. One day a child gave away his secret, crying out: "Mother, mother, see the dove resting on the shoulder of Father Didacus! I could preach like that too if a dove told me all that I should say."
Didacus was that close to God, spending nights in prayer and preparing for his sermons by severe penances. His reply to those who criticized him: "My sins and the sins of the people compel me to do it. Those who have been charged with the conversions of sinners must remember that the Lord has imposed on them the sins of all their clients."
It is said that sometimes when he preached on the love of God he would be elevated above the pulpit. Crowds in village and town squares were entranced by his words and would attempt to tear off pieces of his habit as he passed by.
He died in 1801 at age 58, a holy and revered man. He was beatified in 1894.
Comment:
Didacus was such a poor student that the Observant Franciscans wouldn’t have him. When Capuchin Franciscans finally took him into their order and eventually ordained him, he proved to be a powerful preacher—to everyone’s surprise. As we often do, Didacus’s contemporaries expected little from someone with a slow mind. Didacus proved to them that intelligence is not the only measure. The person who has a loving heart, a listening ear and a wealth of compassion is, in the long run, much wiser.
Sources: SUNDAY BY SUNDAY and americancatholic.org
Didacus was such a poor student that the Observant Franciscans wouldn’t have him. When Capuchin Franciscans finally took him into their order and eventually ordained him, he proved to be a powerful preacher—to everyone’s surprise. As we often do, Didacus’s contemporaries expected little from someone with a slow mind. Didacus proved to them that intelligence is not the only measure. The person who has a loving heart, a listening ear and a wealth of compassion is, in the long run, much wiser.
Sources: SUNDAY BY SUNDAY and americancatholic.org
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